23, Cat

If anyone were to ask who the master of the Forbidden Forest was, the first answer would be the Spider King. With his hundreds, even thousands of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, it was no wonder that he was the master. He could see anything he wanted, hear of anything he wanted, and knew each little thing that went on around him.

They were silent, the tiniest of his brood were the best at what they did, gathering information, looking for things that others would never notice. Those that were bigger were better for bringing home food, catching and working in teams to do so.

It went against what they all had instincts for, honestly. The Spider King knew this, knew that by lending his wisdom to his brood he was in some ways ruining his own chances at further survival.

But then he would witness another group of spiderlings being born, tumbling from their egg sacks in small waves, and he would begin to purr.

Some of his children teased him, the eldest of them, by bringing him gifts of cats when they were lucky enough in the hunt. They claimed that it was his feasting of them that allowed him to purr like one, that it was due to his diet of the furred creatures while in the dungeons of Hogwarts.

He knew that it was not the case, and so did his children, but that didn't stop them, and that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy those tasty, meowing meals.

Not only that, but it added a air of superiority to him, cemented his role as the king of the Forbidden Forest in many ways. And as more of the spiderlings grew, so did his kingdom, spanning and moving deeper and deeper in.

But never too deep, never to the point that his own parent could not reach them.

The Grounds Keeper had been the one that he first purred for, while he'd been carried and hidden. As a tiny spiderling just learning human speech.

And as said Grounds Keeper walked into the small wooden clearing that was the Spider King's home, dragging a large buck behind him by its horns, he started to purr again. Draped on his shoulder, were even more goodies, rats and voles. The youngest of his children chittered in excitement, and swarmed around the corpses, but dared not touch until allowed.

"'Allo! Bigger brood then before, again A' seeh."

His purring grew in pitch, deepening and filling the clearing as he clambered forward and towered over his friend. While most thought that he was the master of the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid was more so then him. Because no other person would be so close to danger, but so unafraid.

Then again, his purring probably didn't help to make any fear, only squash it.